French researcher Luc Montagnier—who won a Nobel Prize in 2008 for discovering HIV and, more recently, spread false claims about the coronavirus—has died at age 89, ABC News noted.
Montagnier died Feb. 8 at the American Hospital of Paris in Neuilly-sur-Seine.
Montagnier, a virologist, led the team that in 1983 identified the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS, leading him to share the 2008 Nobel Prize in medicine with colleague Francoise Barre-Sinoussi.
French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute in a written statement that referred to Montagnier’s “major contribution” to the fight against AIDS and expressed condolences to his family.
During a 2020 interview with French news broadcaster CNews, Montagnier claimed the coronavirus did not originate in nature and was manipulated. Experts who have looked at the genome sequence of the virus have said Montagnier’s statement was incorrect.